By Memory, attention, language, intuition, critical reasoning… Did you know that cognitive processes are key not only to your personal success, but also to your human well-being? Find out more below.
Learning to play an instrument, deciding whether to accept a job, regulating the anger you feel, remembering that magical moment with your partner, are all examples of how different types of cognitive processes orchestrate much of what you do every day. These are powerful and multifunctional brain mechanisms that allow you to do everything from acquiring new knowledge to facing challenges.
Among its functionalities, the higher-order ones are those that offered us a great evolutionary advantage. Areas such as language or creative thinking are those tools that most facilitate our development as a social group. The most interesting thing is that you carry out many of these activities unconsciously. We suggest you find out more.
What do we call cognitive processes?
We often compare our brain function to that of a computer. However, this fascinating organ is much more complex than a set of processors and programming codes. Cognitive processes, in each of their types, are the cornerstone of your mental abilities and mediate how you reason, think, learn, remember…
Thanks to these neurological mechanisms, you can regulate your behavior and analyze whether it is worth giving credibility to the intuition you just had. As you can deduce, this surpasses any technology. Also, a good part of these functions can be improved with learning and training. This will allow you to always give the best of yourself in every situation.
Function of basic cognitive processes
Humans have about 100 billion neurons. A large part of this network works to carry out some basic cognitive process almost every second . They are the atomic units of function that carry out tasks as essential as processing the information that reaches you through stimuli. Take note of which ones they are.
1. Perception
Perception allows us to interpret and organize sensory information to understand the environment around us. As an interesting fact, we will tell you that science has been asking itself questions about how it works for decades. One of them is the most classic: “Is what we perceive an identical reflection of reality or does the mind interpret what it sees?”
A publication published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience delves deeper into this, into how the brain can carry out this complex task that involves all our senses. Let’s now learn some of the particularities.
Characteristics
Attention is achieved through constant pattern recognition. It consists of the ability to identify shapes, objects and sounds that are familiar to you due to your experience and learning.
Examples
- Seeing a red traffic light and knowing how to interpret its meaning as a pedestrian or driver.
- Meeting a person on the street and knowing whether they are someone you know or not by their facial features.
- When you listen to a song, you perceive the rhythm and melody, which allows you to enjoy the music and often even anticipate what notes will come next.
2. Attention
One of the core dimensions of cognitive processes is attention . It is the ability to selectively focus on one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. As Daniel Goleman describes in his renowned essay Focus (2013), an attentive and focused mind allows you to have better control over your life to achieve excellence.
Typologies
- Selective attention : This involves focusing on a single stimulus while ignoring the others.
- Divided attention: With this skill you manage to maintain attention on several stimuli or tasks at the same time.
- Sustained attention: defines the ability to maintain concentration for a prolonged period.
Examples
- Making dinner while watching a series on television (divided attention).
- Reading a book in a noisy café without being distracted by background sounds (selective attention).
- Maintaining attention on a video game for a certain amount of time in order to complete objectives or levels (sustained attention).
3. Sensations
Sensations are the first filter of all our knowledge about the world. Everything you feel, see and experience through your senses has provided you with essential information for your development and learning.
Characteristics
- They are the initial process of detecting physical stimuli.
- Sensations do not imply interpretations or recognitions.
- They occur in the sensory organs and initial neural pathways.
- The sensation is objective and depends on the physical capacity of the sensory organs.
Examples
Feeling the light coming through the window at dawn. Also a caress from your partner, the touch of the wool sweater you are wearing, the fresh breeze that makes your skin crawl…
4. Memory
Memory is an essential cognitive process in your life that helps you encode, store, and retrieve information. It is also fascinating to know that memories are initially stored in the hippocampus and, over time, consolidated in the neocortex .
Typologies
- Sensory memory: It consists of a brief, temporary record of the sensory information you receive.
- Short-term memory : what the brain does in these cases is carry out a limited and temporary storage of information, with a retention capacity of few elements.
- Long-term memory: In this process, the data that is integrated into memory has an indefinite and unlimited duration. There are, in turn, different typologies that you may have already heard of: episodic memory , which builds memories of very specific personal or autobiographical experiences; semantic memory, which is the general knowledge of the world, facts and concepts; and procedural memory, which covers motor skills and habits, such as riding a bicycle.
Examples
- Smelling a flower and suddenly remembering a moment from your past (sensory memory).
- Remember that first novel you read as a child and that you liked so much (long-term memory).
- Remembering how to play chess (semantic memory) or how to drive a car (procedural memory).
- Keeping a phone number in your memory for a few seconds so you can write it down (short-term memory).
Function of higher cognitive processes
Higher cognitive mechanisms reflect not only the complexity of the human brain and its ability to understand and respond to the world. They are the processes that differentiate you from animals and allow you, among other fabulous possibilities, to imagine your future, make inferences or solve complex problems, and think creatively and originally.
Cognitive psychology has been studying these functions for decades. This interest lies in the fact that they are the atomic elements that allow science to understand human thought and behavior. Elucidating their functioning in detail would help us improve rehabilitation, optimize learning, and even mediate well-being. Let’s learn about these dimensions below.
1. The language
Language is a complex and structured system of communication that uses symbols, sounds or gestures to convey meaning. It is also notable for its ability to express thoughts, emotions, desires and experiences, and is fundamental to social interaction and human cultural development.
Characteristics
- Communication: language facilitates the sharing of ideas, emotions, thoughts… All of this builds social interaction and collaboration.
- Culture and society: This higher cognitive process acts as an indisputable pillar for our social cohesion and cultural identity, as well as for its development.
- Thinking and cognition: Using language impacts how you think and process information. The structure and vocabulary of a language can affect how you perceive and categorize the world. It’s an interesting and curious aspect.
- Learning and education: Language is essential for the cognitive processes of learning. It allows you to acquire knowledge and skills throughout your life.
- Creativity and artistic expression: This dimension provides an exceptional medium for artistic expression and creativity, from literature to theatre, music, etc.
2. The thought
Thinking is the mental process of manipulating information to form concepts, solve problems, reason, and make decisions. Science is also interested in this area. In fact, it has been described that the substrates of this dimension are influenced by both our context and ourselves . Keep in mind, too, that they involve different aspects.
Features and examples
- Problem solving: This cognitive process improves over time and with experience. It consists of identifying and solving problems using original strategies.
- Decision making: You do this almost every day. It involves choosing an action or resolution from among several options.
- Reasoning: the ability to process information in order to reach logical conclusions. Reasoning is deductive when it starts from general premises to reach specific conclusions. Reasoning is inductive when it generalizes from specific observations or experiences.
- Metacognition : This is a skill that is as complex as it is necessary in your daily life. It defines the process of thinking, monitoring or analyzing your own thinking. An example of this is reflecting on your study strategies to improve academic performance. This task involves monitoring and controlling your own cognitive functions to optimize learning.
3. Intelligence
Intelligence is a multifaceted construct that encompasses a wide variety of cognitive, emotional, and social skills. We could define it simply as the general mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, understand complex ideas, and learn from experience.
On the other hand, although it is true that there are many theories and approaches that conceptualize it in different ways, the University of Geneva highlights something important. Research has always focused on the same perspective: on knowing how human beings adapt to their own complex environment thanks to this higher cognitive process. Let’s look at more characteristics:
- Creativity: The ability to generate original ideas, think divergently and find novel solutions to problems is the very essence of intelligence.
- Adaptation: Intelligence is that core resource that has allowed us to advance as a species by adjusting behavior or thinking to face changing or challenging situations.
- Learning: one of the cognitive pillars is to facilitate the ability to acquire new knowledge and skills. Without forgetting how it helps us to modify and improve behavior based on our past experiences.
- Abstract thinking : This ability defines the skill to understand concepts that are not immediately obvious or tangible, such as numbers, scientific theories or philosophical ideas. An example of this is the theory of relativity proposed by Albert Einstein. This model requires keen abstract thinking to understand that concepts such as time and space can be distorted.
4. Motivation
Motivation initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviour. It is what drives you to act, whether it is getting up to go to work, studying to pass a test or training every day to run a marathon. It should be noted that there is also an emotional component to this factor. In addition, there are two types.
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is driven by personal interests. Thus, the simple enjoyment and inherent satisfaction that is obtained from carrying out an activity is the best gratification. It does not depend, therefore, on external rewards. Examples of intrinsic motivation can be:
- Learning for pleasure: Studying a subject because you are passionate about it and enjoy learning more about it.
- Hobbies: Playing a sport or a hobby like painting are things you do because you find them fun and satisfying.
Extrinsic motivation
This cognitive and emotional process originates from external factors, such as material rewards, recognition, or avoiding punishment. This type of motivation is driven by external consequences. Here are some examples:
- Monetary rewards: working overtime to receive a higher salary.
- Social recognition: participating in an event in order to obtain a prize or to become known.
- Avoid punishments: Children often complete schoolwork to avoid criticism or punishment.
Mental processes that we can all train
We all come into the world with a wonderful brain ready to acquire knowledge and experiences. So, although it is true that the different types of cognitive processes are innate abilities that we all begin to put into practice as we grow, there is one important fact. We are faced with mental skills that can be trained and enhanced.
How? If you take a curious, learning-oriented, stimulation-oriented, and challenging approach, your brain will thank you. Not only will you improve your memory, creativity, attention, or problem-solving skills, but those cognitive resources act as buffers against inflexibility, aging, and malaise. An agile mind is a happier mind.